This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-48973, filed Aug. 19, 2002, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information input device worn on a user's body or finger, an information processing device, and an information input method.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the most important factors contributing to the effective use of a computer is an interface between the computer and a person using it. The most widely used computer interface device is a QWERTY keyboard, which has a plurality of keys each corresponding to a particular character or symbol. However, recently, instead of the QWERTY keyboard, a virtual keyboard has been developed for a user's convenience and portability purposes.
Korean Utility Model Application No. 1996-33413, entitled “Computer System Having Virtual Keyboard” uses a mouse or touch pad for selecting a key on a virtual keyboard which is displayed in a popup window on a monitor of a computer. However, a drawback of the above computer system is that a process of pushing keys for a long time becomes troublesome and tiring. Also, it takes a long time to select the keys.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,484, entitled “Finger Mounted Computer Input Device”, issued on Dec. 3, 1996 includes a pressure sensor and a pair of acceleration sensors. The pressure sensor and the acceleration sensors are attached to a user's fingertip. If the user's finger presses against a predetermined surface of the computer input device, the pressure sensor senses a pressure and the acceleration sensors measure the acceleration of the finger. Signals of the sensors are used in calculating a relative position of the finger. Integrating a measured acceleration twice gives the relative position of the finger. The pressure signal is used in validating an acceleration signal. However, a drawback of the above information input device is that errors are generated in the acceleration signal outputted from the acceleration sensor by errors included in the acceleration sensor and the acceleration of gravity.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,840, entitled “Fingerless Glove for Interacting with Data Processing System”, issued on Oct. 16, 2001 includes a sensor which senses a bending of the user's finger joints. As shown in FIG. 1, an angle θ at which the joint 100 of the user's finger is bent is used to decode a particular row of a keyboard and each finger controls one or more columns. Discrimination between the columns of the keyboard by the same finger is achieved by an adduction/abduction sensor.
The above fingerless glove has an effect which prevents errors by the acceleration sensor. However, a drawback of the fingerless glove is that since the sensor measuring the extent of bending of the user's finger joint must cover the joint portion of the user's finger, an area of the finger contacting with the sensor is wide and, as such, a user wearing the glove may experience discomfort. Another drawback is that repeated bending and stretching operations of the finger for information selection promote abrasion of the sensor mounted on the joint portion of the finger.